The Abu Dhabi-headquartered Lulu Group with wide ranging business interests but better known for its mega malls and hypermarkets as part of foray into Telangana is readying its first mall in Hyderabad and giving shape to around ₹3,500 crore investment plans across sectors, in the State, over next five years.
A destination mall, logistics hub as well as food, meat and fish processing facilities are facilities it intends to set up, Chairman M.A. Yusuff Ali said in the presence of Telangana Industries and IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao and senior officials here on Monday, June 26, 2023.
“We will starting a 100% export [oriented] food processing unit [dealing in] fruits, vegetables, millets, pulses and spices,” he said, highlighting how such facilities were key to ensuring supplies to the more than 250 hypermarkets of the Group in 22 countries.
There are also plans to establish an agriculture sourcing and logistics hub near the Hyderabad airport for facilitating exports and promotion of Telangana produce with an investment of ₹150 crore, the Group said. Also, Lulu will be investing ₹200 crore on an export-oriented 60 tonne a day integrated meat processing plant at Chengicherla. Commercial operations are expected to start in next 18 months and the plant will generate employment for more than 2,000 people, it said.
Over ₹2,000 crore investments for mall
A chunk of the ₹3,500 crore investment proposed will be on a destination mall. It will a 2.2 million sq ft facility and entail an investment in excess of ₹2,000 crore. Three locations have been shortlisted and once studies required for such large projects, including traffic survey, are completed, Lulu is expected to take about 18 months to complete the project.
The Group’s foray into the State will, however, be with a ₹300 crore investment on the re-branding of the 5 lakh sq ft Manjeera Mall, to Lulu Mall, and enhancing the shopping experience. “About 80% of the work has been completed and the mall will be ready for opening either August end or early September,” said the Lulu Chairman, who is an NRI from Kerala. About 2,000 people will get jobs at the facility, including 800 who will be employed directly, he said. The highlight of the mall in Kukatpally will be the 2 lakh sq ft Lulu hypermarket.
To queries, Mr.Ali said the Group has thus far invested ₹20,000 crore in India and within three years invest ₹10,000 more on various projects, including malls in Ahmedabad and Chennai as well as a food processing plant in Noida. Of the 50,000 jobs it aims to generate in the country, 22,000 have been provided, he said, adding that the Group will also be sourcing rice and processing fish, for exports, from Telangana.
Mr. Rama Rao welcomed Lulu’s decision to ramp up investment in the State from ₹500 crore to ₹3,500 crore and assured the State government’s support to its projects.
